China’s real estate land use drops 25.5pc in 2014

BEIJING (Xinhua) – Official data showed on Tuesday that China’s land area used in real estate development fell sharply last year as the property sector hit a rough patch.

New home construction used 151,000 hectares of land in 2014, plummeting 25.5 per cent year on year, the Chinese Ministry of Land and Resources said in a report.

A major contributor to China’s economic expansion, the property market has been affected by weak demand and an excess of unsold homes. The country’s GDP growth fell to a 24-year low of 7.4 per cent in 2014.

The real estate market continued its downward trend with new home prices in January registering month-on-month declines in most cities surveyed.